Clearwater Bay resident Peter Thuler complains in the letter below about the apparent inability of the police to sort out long-term illegal parking. As evidence he attaches a letter from the Tseung Kwan O police station signed by Hui Chun-ho. In summary Hui says that in 2017 regarding the offence of “parking for a continuous period of more than 24 hours” the following summons were issued: Six at Sheung Sze Wan carpark, 18 at Tai Au Mun carpark and 135 at Clearwater Bay Second Beach. The police letter noted that fixed penalty tickets are not applicable in cases of long-term illegal parking.
Here’s what Peter has to say about this unsatisfactory state of affairs:
Dear BUZZ
I have sent several letters to HKP re cars parked illegally at our village spaces. Some of the cars are not moved for months and apparently one for over one year. When I complained to Tseung Kwan O police station, two officers explained to me that over-stayers can’t be issued with fixed penalty tickets, but need to be prosecuted.
From the attached letter you can see how many prosecutions were done in the past. it is of course not known how the prosecutions ended. it’s a pity to see how much effort the police is taking to attend to the problem, but are unable to resolve it.
It is very likely the case that the cars belong to dealers who are looking for cheap parking spaces, at the same time depriving genuine users from the villages of their parking spaces. As some villages are quite far from the next bus stop, people take their cars to a carpark near a bus stop to go to work. Those cars are moved on a daily basis and respect the 24-hour rule.
I suspect the fines given are so ridiculously low that the dealer doesn’t give a damn and pays, and puts the next lot of cars in our carparks. If we overstay at a parking metre, a fixed-penalty ticket is immediately issued. I wonder why overstaying at carparks without a metre is handled differently. I got fined twice in the last three months, because of parking outside the marked field. Both fines I challenged and it will likely go to court.
Can you bring the matter up with your police connections and find out what action should be taken to resolve the problem? At the moment it simply looks as a lot of resources on the side of HKP is wasted, as there seems to be no deterrent effect by the fines imposed (if fines are indeed imposed).
Peter Thuler
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